ARCHIVED ARTICLES

 

Week of October 29, 2010

U.S. campaign takes on anti-gay bullying in school, The Washington Post
Help Stop Bullying, U.S. Tells Educators, The New York Times
The Obama administration is taking a high profile position against discriminatory bullying and harassment.

Whistle-blower lawsuit filed against Fort Worth school district, Star-Telegram
A former Texas assistant principal is filing a whistleblower lawsuit alleging he was fired, in part, because he called the district out on discriminatory discipline practices.

Denver truancy court’s careful help leads kids back to classrooms, Denver Post
A sympathetic story about the truancy court in Denver.

Agency to review TPS’ treatment of minorities, The Toledo Blade
The federal Department of Education’s office of Civil Rights is going to review the racial disparities in Toledo’s school discipline practices.

Researcher focuses on Mashpee Wampanog students, Cape Cod Times
On Cape Cod, the school district is focusing on the racial disparities in discipline and dropout for Mashpee-Wampanoag students.

Character Education Found to Fall Short in Federal Study, Education Week
A new study argues that character education doesn’t improve students’ behavior.

Toy guns in schools mean real problems for families, Miami Herald
After lots of negative press about the expulsion of a student for a nerf gun, Broward County in Florida is reexamining its toy gun policy.

 

Opinions/Editorials

Suspending Students – Over done?, The Miyamura Chronicle
A student journalist from New Mexico reports on the overuse of suspension in her school.

CLEGG: The dangers of disparate-impact policy, The Washington Times
A misguided op-ed in the conservative Washington Times threatens that if schools pay attention to racial disparities in school discipline it will lead to unruly classrooms – the piece is decorated by an illustration of a paddle with an Obama logo on it.  Not only is this piece borderline offensive, it furthers the incorrect assumption that every student who is being punished deserves to be.  This, data tells us, is not true – students of color are more likely to be disciplined than White students for committing the same offenses.  No matter how many times the Washington Times says it, we do not live in a colorblind world.

Zero-tolerance policies: Zero sense, The Washington Times
Also in the Washington Times, a piece by a student in Louisiana arguing that zero tolerance policies harm students, and do not make schools safer.

 

Week of October 22, 2010

Does the Punishment Fit the Crime?, WBNG News
In Binghamton, NY 12 students were suspended last year for their roles in a food fight.  Many are not yet back in school and they are crying foul.

Gainesville schools adopt updated discipline policies, AccessNorthGa.com
Georgia districts are implementing a new state three strikes law for bullying.

Alternative Education Not a Fundamental Right in N.C., Education Week
Edweek reports on the recent decision by the North Carolina Supreme Court.

Zero-Tolerance Laws Eased, But Schools Still Tough, AOL News
AOL Online publishes an article reflecting on the continued national prevalence of zero tolerance policies despite movement in some states to dial back the harsh consequences of the law.  The piece has quotes and data from Dignity in Schools.

School program wards off bullying by strengthening bonds between students, The Sacramento Bee
An elementary school in Texas combats bullying not through punishment, but actually trying to build strong relationships between students.

Discipline rate of black students in Del., elsewhere is probed, USA Today
USA Today highlights the disparate impact investigations underway in Delaware and elsewhere that were highlighted by Secretary Duncan at the recent conference.  The article quotes the recent Losen and Skiba report as well as the research showing that disparities are not justified by disparities in behavior.

School Safety Officers Too Quick To Discipline, Says NYCLU, NY1
NY1 reports on the NYCLU’s campaign to get school cops to cut back on arrests and harsh discipline.

Obama Pushes ‘Zero Tolerance’ for Online Harassment, PC Mag
President Obama invokes “zero tolerance” with respect to bullying and harassment.

Crime Rate in Schools Down, WIFR.com
A report from Rockford, IL suggests that the positive discipline there has improved school discipline.

Friday Churn: CSAP replacement on tour, Education News Colorado
Ed News Colorado highlights Padres y Jovenes Unidos’ action on Friday to call for an end to the school to prison pipeline.

Number of ed civil rights complaints on the rise, The Associated Press
The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has received almost 7,000 complaints this year, and 11 percent increase.

Opinions/Editorials

First Days, GothamSchools
A teacher in NYC reflects on his first days in the classroom and the difficulties of classroom management..

Zero Tolerance = Zero Common Sense, Human Events
Ted Nugent, an unlikely ally, has a piece in Human Events calling zero tolerance ridiculous.

Advertiser Editorial: Program cuts school suspensions, Montgomery Advertiser
A report from Montgomery, AL highlights the effectiveness of a program aimed at supporting students rather than disciplining them.  The program has dramatically reduced suspensions in the district.

Zero Tolerance equals zero sense, The West Georgian
A strong op-ed from Georgia calling out the nonsense of zero-tolerance policies.  In particular, the author focuses on a recent case where a girl was suspended for 10 days for wearing a chain that her school called a weapon.  The piece points out that Georgia was supposed to have done away with zero tolerance, but that Cobb County, where the student was suspended, has its own policy that was unaffected by the law.

40 Under 40, TIME
Ben Jealous names poverty the most overlooked issue facing America, and identifies the school –to-prison pipeline as one of its main causes.

 

Week of October 15, 2010

Central Falls police, school officials tackle discipline issues at high school, The Providence Journal
Central Falls, the high school in Rhode Island that was in the news for firing all of its teachers, is struggling with school discipline and turning to the police.

Schools enforce year-round conduct rules, USA Today
USAToday has a story on the growing trend in districts across the country towards penalizing students for out of school conduct.  These policies generally involve athletics and extra-curricular activities, but they have the effect of over-punishing many students for behavior that has nothing to do with school.

Teen bullies charged for yanking down boy’s gym shorts, Orlando Sentinel
This story is an example of the problems with “cracking down” on bullying.  Two students are being charged with misdemeanors for pulling down a disabled student’s gym shorts.  While the act is troubling, and while bullying is a real problem in many schools, criminalizing this kind of cruel behavior does nothing more than shift the harm without changing the culture.  What we need are schools that protect students by creating healthy learning environments, not schools that call the police when students act like adolescents.

Beyond protest: Rethinkers’ music conveys solutions, San Francisco Bay View
A story on a group of youth from New Orleans – “The Rethinkers” – who are protesting overly punitive discipline and promoting restorative justice through song, spoken word, and performance.

6-year-old student suspended for hitting teacher, wmctv.com
A six-year old in Memphis, Tennessee has been effectively expelled for the year for punching a teacher – despite the fact that the school was aware of his anger issues.  This is an example of zero-tolerance in overreaction.

Ruling Limits State’s Power in School Suspensions, The New York Times
The NYTimes picks up the story from North Carolina, where the supreme court held that the state must offer more justification before it suspends a student without academic services.  This is good news, and it is good that the Times is reporting on it.

3 expulsions over pot use at Hunters Lane upheld, The Tennessean
In the high profile expulsion cases from Hunter’s Lane in Tennessee, three of the expulsions were upheld.

N.C. teen suspended for her religious nose piercing is ordered readmitted, USA Today
A NC student who had been repeatedly suspended for her nose piercing was ordered re-admitted by a federal judge.

Kindergartener suspended for Nerf gun at school, denverpost.com
A kindergartener in Denver is suspended for bringing a nerf gun to school.

Are minority students discipline more harshly? Obama administration to issue suspension guidelines, The Grand Rapids Press
A reporter in Grand Rapids, MI retells the recent EdWeek story on DOE’s commitment to ending racial disparity in school discipline.

Monitor: keep teaching violent Ohio youth inmates, Dayton Daily News
A court-appointed monitor in Ohio is advocating for incarcerated youth to continue receiving educational services.

H.S. Pranksters Zipped to Court, Blanco County News
Five students in Blanco, TX were handcuffed, arrested, and fined for participating in a senior prank.

Opinions/Editorials

Classroom crises: How does a teacher respond?, The Portland Press Herald
The Portland Press Herald in Maine continues its series on school discipline with a story on teachers being trained in better classroom management.

Raising Up an Orwellian Generation, Dakota Voice
Charles Whitehead points out that our schools are Orwellian institutions with constant surveillance and random punishment.

Two Words: Wasteful and Ineffective, The New York Times
The New York Times make a good economic argument for ending the school-to-prison pipeline. Incarcerating adolescents for minor infractions makes everyone worse off.

 

Week of October 8, 2010

Obama Administration Targets ‘Disparate Impact’ of Discipline, Education Week
An important article that explains why zero-tolerance school policies that have a disparate impact on students of color ought to be changed, even if there is no intent to discriminate.  Judith Browne-Dianis, co-director of Advancement Project, is quoted.

Wall opens charter school, Eastern Wake News
A new charter school in Dekalb County, GA opens with the stated goal of combating the school-to-prison pipeline and the achievement gap.

Columbus schools’ discipline focused on 1 in 11 students, The Columbus Dispatch
A story from Columbus, OH highlights the fact that a few students are being targeted with multiple disciplinary actions.

New State Law Has Schools Rethinking Corporal Punishment, MyFOX8.com
Some school districts in North Carolina are rethinking their corporal punishment policies in light of a new state law requiring parental consent.

Palm Beach County schools strive to reduce suspensions of black males, The Palm Beach Post News
Losen and Skiba’s recent report is shaming Palm Beach into addressing its unconscionably high discipline rates for Black boys in middle school.

With ‘restorative justice,’ some students straighten up, fly right, Morning Sentinel
A story about schools in Waterville and Winslow that are implementing restorative justice to cut down on punitive discipline.

Mississippi schools see dip in suspensions, expelled students, Clarion Ledger
Suspensions and expulsions are down in MS because of an effort to focus on prevention and intervention, rather than harsh punishments.

Expelled kids face uncertain road back, The Portland Press Herald
The Portland Press Herald points out that it is easy to expel a student, but that the path back to school for that youth is very difficult and complicated – magnifying the punishment.

Panel reviewing discipline in schools, The Portland Press Herald
A panel is reviewing Maine’s state laws around discipline.  The article centers on the ACLU of Maine’s attempt to limit harsh discipline.

Morris County, NJ, schools to review 24/7 discipline policies, Daily Record
A New Jersey school district will likely reduce the number of suspensions given to students for out-of-school misconduct.

Breast cancer slogan creates discipline problem, The Spokesman-Review
Two high school students have been suspended for refusing to remove rubber bracelets, sold by a breast cancer awareness foundation, because the bracelets contain the word “boobies.”

New Report Offers Dozens Of Ideas To Improve Education, Hartford Courant
A new report suggests ways to decrease Connecticut’s high school dropout rate.

Opinions/Editorials

Our View: Expulsions call for balance by educators, The Portland Press Herald
A day after running a couple of articles examining school discipline, the Portland Press Herald in Maine publishes an editorial calling for schools to scale back the harsh consequences of expulsion.

Editorial: Arresting development, News Herald
This is an excellent editorial from Florida responding to the outrageous arrest of a special needs student for “assault” after he lashed out at administrators without causing any injury or harm.  The paper points out that administrators are supposed to be able to handle youth without calling the police at every difficulty.  The piece also notes the side-effects of making police school disciplinarians – more arrests.

Our view: Focus on education, not filling positions, Norwich Bulletin
Good editorial concerning a report on the school-to-prison pipeline in Connecticut, presented to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

 

Week of October 1, 2010

School Suspensions Skyrocket for Black and Latino Students, Colorlines
Colorlines picks up the Losen and Skiba report and highlights the trend upward in suspensions nationwide.

Parent decries Jackson schools’ ‘box’ discipline, Southeast Missourian
Parents in Jackson, Missouri are protesting against a form of public humiliation being used as discipline.

District 205 Discipline Numbers Say Expulsions, Suspensions Down, mystateline.com
In Rockford, IL, where there was recently a dust-up about the implementation of PBIS, the number of suspensions and expulsions is down dramatically this year.

11-year-old arrested after school assault, The Walton Sun
In Louisiana, a student was arrested for “assault” after he swung a binder at one teacher and tried, but failed, to kick another.

Chess, as a Survival Skill, The Wall Street Journal
Is the way to create safer schools chess?.

Most schools in S.C., nation spare the rod, data show, The State
A report on the declining use of corporal punishment in South Carolina.

Guidance Given on Young and Disruptive, Education Week
A study looks at how to decrease pre-school expulsions.

Plan for school security rapped as ‘same old,’ Philadelphia Daily News
Not everyone is pleased with the recommendations in Philly – saying that much more fundamental change is needed.

Behavioral interventions help students, UPI
A new report provides further evidence for the effectiveness of Positive Behavior Supports.

School Reform Commission hears plans to curb violence in 46 Philadelphia schools, The Philadelphia Inquirer
In Philly, the School-Reform Commission hears recommendations to address school violence – they include “school climate action teams” and other recommendations that focus on the learning environment and culture of the school, not just punitive discipline.

Classroom program rewards positive behavior, focuses less on negative, ksdk.com
A story from St. Louis highlighting a positive behavior support program in place in Connecticut.

School discipline problems down in Canton, Watertown Daily Town
School discipline incidents are down in Canton, NY because the district has focused on improving school climate proactively, rather than merely waiting for incidents to occur and using punitive sanctions.

Opinions/Editorials

Improving Wake’s suspension policy, newsobserver.com
An excellent op-ed by Jason Langberg in the News and Observer in North Carolina about improving Wake County’s discipline policy.  He calls for swift, decisive, and collaborative action to address the racial inequalities and overly harsh discipline in the county.  He praises the board for taking the first steps and calls on them to do more.

Zero tolerance makes zero sense, The Daily Cougar
The University of Houston newspaper picks up on the story of a student who was suspended because his eyes were bloodshot from crying and uses it to call out zero tolerance as senseless.

Boy Scout Suspended From School For Lighter Possession, gothamist
In New Jersey, an 11-year-old boy scout was suspended for having a lighter in school.